Excerpt: 'Hungry' by Crystal Renn

Sept. 8, 2009— -- In her memoir, Crystal Renn details her struggles as a young model in a constant battle between her ambition and her appetite.

But after years of fighting, Renn eventually embraced her body. Her struggle, she said, is one that reverberates across the country.

"I was hardly alone in my descent into weight obsession and madness," Renn writes. "Five to 10 million Americans have eating disorders. Even women without clinical disorders spend a heartbreaking amount of time obsessing about their weight, hating their bodies and thinking that if they were only thinner, their lives would be richer, fuller, happier."

Check out an excerpt of the book below and then head to the "GMA" Library for some more great reads.

Introduction

This is a story about two pictures.

The first is a photograph of the supermodel Gisele. Taken by thephotographer Steven Meisel, it appeared in Vogue in 2000. Gisele isin a clingy white gown, posing in a studio against a seamless graybackdrop. Her skin is golden and gleaming. Her hair is windblown,as if she's been surprised by a breeze from an open window just outof view. Her hands, her eyes, the curve of her back—everything isgraceful and expressive. She's mesmerizing.

I was fourteen years old when I saw that picture. It was the firsttime I'd ever leafed through a copy of Vogue. I'd never cared aboutany fashion magazine; I'd looked at that one only because a man I'llcall The Scout had handed me a copy. He was working for a majormodeling agency—let's just call it The Agency—in New York. Hisjob was to troll the back roads of America, visiting junior highschools and suburban malls, in a ceaseless quest for the next topmodel.

I had never met anyone like The Scout before. He was urbaneand kind, smooth-talking yet sincere. I was dazzled by his shirt. Tailored to perfection, it was probably more expensive than my entirewardrobe. When he opened Vogue to Gisele's picture, he knew exactlywhat he was doing. He was planting a fantasy. In the few secondsit took me to absorb all of Gisele's beauty and allure, I'dconstructed a new idea of female perfection. It was Gisele.That's when The Scout said, "This could be you."